Vermiform bones and the evolution of gigantism in Megalania—How a reptilian fox became a lion

LITERATURE CITED

• Abdul , J. , Hamzah , J. and Abdullah , W. M. W. 1986 . Preliminary study on the growth rate and movement of water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) at Sungai Tembeling Taman Negara . Journal of Wildlife and Parks , 5 : 63 – 78 .
   Google Scholar
• Abdul , J. and Amin bin Abdullah. , M. 1987 . 1988. Growth rate and behavior of water monitor lizard (Varanus salvator) at SG. Tembeling, Taman Negara . Journal of Wildlife and Parks 7 , 8 : 58 – 66 .
   Google Scholar
• Anderson , C. 1927 . A gigantic extinct lizard . Australian Museum Magazine , 3 : 132 – 133 .
   Google Scholar
• Andrews , H. V. 1995 . Sexual maturation in Varanus salvator (Laurenti 1768) with notes on growth and reproductive output . Herpetological Journal , 5 : 189 – 194 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Andrews , H. V. and Gaulke , M. 1990 . Observations on the reproductive biology and growth of the water monitor (Varanus salvator) at the madras crocodile bank . Hamadrayad , 15 : 1 – 5 .
   Google Scholar
• Auffenberg , W. 1974 . Combat behavior in Varanus bengalensis (Saurian Varanidae) . Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society , 78 : 54 – 72 .
   Google Scholar
• Auffenberg , W. 1978 . “ Social and feeding behavior in Varanus komodoensis; ” . In Behavior and Neurology of Lizards Edited by: Greenberg , N. and Maclean , P. H. 301 – 331 . Education and Welfare : National Institute of Mental Health, United States Department of Health .
   Google Scholar
• Auffenberg , W. 1981 . The Behavioral Ecology of the Komodo Monitor 406 Gainesville : University Presses of Florida .
   Google Scholar
• Blob , R. W. 2000 . Interspecific scaling of the hindlimb skeleton in lizards, crocodilians, felids and canids: does limb bone shape correlate with limb posture? Journal of Zoology . London , 250 : 507 – 531 .
   Google Scholar
• Buffrénil , V. de , Chabanet , C. and Castanet , J. 1994 . Données préliminares sur la taille, la croissance et la longévité du varan du Nil (Varanus niloticus) dans la région du lac Tchad . Canadian Journal of Zoology , 72 : 262 – 273 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Case , T. J. 1978 . On the evolution and adaptive significance of postnatal growth rates in the terrestrial vertebrates . The Quarterly Review of Biology , 53 : 174 – 192 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Castanet , J. and Smirina , E. 1990 . An introduction to the skeletochronological method in amphibians and reptiles . Annales Scientifique Naturelle Zoologie , 11 : 191 – 196 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dunn , E. R. 1927 . Results of the Douglas Burden Expedition to the island of Komodo. I. Notes on Varanus komodoensis . American Museum Novitates , 286 : 1 – 10 .
   Google Scholar
• Erickson , G. M. and Brochu , C. A. 1998 . How the “terror crocodile” grew so big . Nature , 398 : 205 – 206 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Erickson , G. M. and Tumanova , T. A. 2000 . Growth curve and life history attributes of Psittacosaurus mongoliensis (Ceratopsia: Psittacosauridae) inferred from long bone histology . Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 130 : 551 – 566 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Erickson , G. M. , Curry Rogers , K. and Yerby , S. A. 2001 . Dinosaurian growth patterns and rapid avian growth rates . Nature , 412 : 429 – 433 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Fejévary , Baron G. J. de . 1918 . Contributions to a monograph on fossil Varanidae and on Megalanidae . Annales Museum Naturelle Hungarici , 16 : 341 – 467 .
   Google Scholar
• Flannery , T. 1991 . The mystery of the meganesian meat-eaters . Australian Natural History , 23 : 722 – 729 .
   Google Scholar
• Fuchs , H. von Kh. 1977 . Histologie und mikroskopische Anatomie der Haut des Bindenwarans . Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde Serie A (Biologie) , 299 : 1 – 16 .
   Google Scholar
• Hecht , M. K. 1975 . The morphology and relationships of the largest known terrestrial lizard, Megalania prisca Owen, from the Pleistocene of Australia . Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria , 87 : 239 – 252 .
   Google Scholar
• Horn , H. 1999 . Evolutionary efficiency and success in monitors: a survey on behavior and behavioral strategies and some comments . Mertensiella , 11 : 167 – 180 .
   Google Scholar
• Humason , G. L. 1979 . Animal Tissue Techniques, , 4th ed. 661 San Francisco : W. H. Freeman and Company .
   Google Scholar
• Losos , J. B. and Greene , H. W. 1988 . Ecological and evolutionary implications of diet in monitor lizards . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 35 : 379 – 407 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McDowell , S. B. and Bogen , C. M. 1954 . The systematic position of Lanthanotus and the affinities of the anguimorphan lizards . Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History , 105 : 1 – 142 .
   Google Scholar
• Mertens , R. 1942 . Die familie der warane (Varanidae). Parts 1–3 . Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft , 465 : 1 – 399 .
   Google Scholar
• Murphy , J. B. and Mitchell , L. A. 1974 . Ritualized combat behavior of the pygmy mulga monitor lizard, Varanus gilleni (Sauria: Varanidae) . Herpetologica , 30 : 90 – 97 .
   Google Scholar
• Rich , T. H. 1985 . “ Megalania prisca: the giant goanna; ” . In Kadimakara: Extinct Vertebrates of Australia Edited by: Rich , R. V. , van Tets , G. F. and Knight , F. 152 – 155 . Princeton : Princeton University Press .
   Google Scholar
• Rich , T. H. and Hall , B. 1979 . Rebuilding a giant . Australian Natural History , 19 : 310 – 314 .
   Google Scholar
• Romer , A. S. 1956 . Osteology of the Reptiles 772 Chicago : University of Chicago Press .
   Google Scholar
• Smirina , E. M. and Tsellarius , A. Y. 1998 . Vital bone marking of desert monitor (Varanus griseus DAUD) . Russian Journal of Herpetology , 5 : 156 – 159 .
   Google Scholar
• Smith , M. A. 1935 . The Fauna of British India. Reptilia and Amphibia. vol 2—Sauria 440 London : Taylor and Francis Ltd. .
   Google Scholar
• Thompson , G. G. and Pianka , E. R. 2001 . Allometry of clutch and neonate sizes in monitor lizards (Varanidae: Varanus) . Copeia , 2001 : 443 – 458 .
   Google Scholar